Posted on 01/03/2011 12:07:35 PM PST by SeekAndFind
You know the story and you know the names: states like Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and California are supposed to be in huge financial trouble thanks to bloated governments, business-unfriendly regulations, and strong public sector unions.
After a crisis-free 2010, investors are expected to punish these hotbeds of bad governance in a muni bond market rout, at least if pundits like Meredith Whitney are correct.
But there's one state, which is fairly high up on the list of troubled states that nobody is talking about, and there's a reason for it.
The state is Texas.
This month the state's part-time legislature goes back into session, and the state is starting at potentially a $25 billion deficit on a two-year budget of around $95 billion. That's enormous. And there's not much fat to cut. The whole budget is basically education and healthcare spending. Cutting everything else wouldn't do the trick. And though raising this kind of money would be easy on an economy of $1.2 trillion, the new GOP mega-majority in Congress is firmly against raising any revenue.
So the bi-ennial legislature, which convenes this month, faces some hard cuts. Some in the Texas GDP have advocated dropping Medicaid altogether to save money.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
“Some in the Texas GDP have advocated dropping Medicaid altogether to save money.”
Open borders RINOs like Kay Bailey, Cornyn and Perry will have a hissy fit. Medicaid is broke largely due to illegals.
If you drop Medicaid, EBT, AFDC, WICs, SCHIP, etc. the problems causing the deficit move away.
I have no problem with cutting healthcare and education spending along with other things.
Back in 2005 it was estimated illegals were costing Texas $5 billion/yr (over $4 billion for education of illegals alone) for healthcare, education etc. I would imagine the total is twice that now. Cut out those benefits and there’s close to half your deficit right there.
If you make free fairy skittles available, people will line up and want more of them.
What’s the justification for Medicaid anyway? The idea of government taking care of the poor has resulted in the growth of the poor, the culture of entitlement, the growth of minority ghettos, baby-mamas instead of wives, teen pregnancy, etc.
It is the very signature failure of the entire filed LBJ “Great Society” program.
Ending Medicaid would be a very smart move, that would save the states millions. Texas officials could give one way airline tickets and small stipends to those who are really sick and poor so that they get the care they require in New York or California.
Folks aren’t reading the whole story. This is really an “in your face, conservatives” attack article.
“So why haven’t we heard more about Texas, one of the most important economy’s in America? Well, it’s because it doesn’t fit the script. It’s a pro-business, lean-spending, no-union state. You can’t fit it into a nice storyline, so it’s ignored.
“But if you want to make comparisons between US states and ailing European countries, think of Texas as being like America’s Ireland. Ireland was once praised as a model for economic growth: conservatives loved it for its pro-business, anti-tax, low-spending strategy, and hailed it as the way forward for all of Europe. Then it blew up.”
I would love to see one, just one, state for federal agency selected for a full audit. I mean a full, detailed audit of every penny they spend. Look at every check they write, every EBT transfer they make, etc. And then follow up with a checking on those who are receiving the funds and what becomes of the money.
I would bet you dollars to donuts that 50 percent of every dollar spent by government does not go where it’s supposed to go. The favorite ploy of politicians for years has been the old fight “waste, fraud and abuse” claim.
I would cut expenditures by whatever it takes to balance the budget, across the board. Let the chips fall where they will. A year or two of that and we’ll know who in government has what it takes to spend money on our behalf.
While citizens of Texas were having a hard time paying their
mortgages and trying to find ways to pay their medical bills for
their children, the state of Texas “spent $81.2 million in the
fiscal year of 2007 on free health care for illegal aliens, mostly
through the children’s Medicaid program.”
Not only that, but “Texas county hospital districts spent an
estimated $596.8 million in 2006 on mandated, uncompensated health
care for illegal immigrants.”
https://www.ircot.com/news_long.htm
Almost six out of 10 Texas public schoolchildren hail from low-income families, marking a troubling spike in poverty over the last decade, a new state report finds.
The increase coincides with a significant jump in the number of Hispanic students, while fewer Anglo students were enrolled last year than 10 years ago, according to the study by the Texas Education Agency. Schools also are educating many more children whose primary language is not English.
The rapidly changing makeup of the Texas public school classroom poses growing challenges for the state. Impoverished and disadvantaged children are more likely to falter academically and drop out, and educating struggling students can be costly.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6795211.html
Correction, this is a biennial budget so that $5 billion/yr back in 2005 would equal $10 billion for this 2 year budget assuming costs haven’t risen since 2005. Assuming those costs have doubled over the past 5 years, cutting healthcare and education to illegals pretty much balances the budget. With education being far and away the biggest drain.
The question every responsible reader should ask is this -— What is the CAUSE of the state budget crisis ? Conservative policies like -— being pro-business and no-union, or BIG SPENDING?
These writers call Texas a lean-spending state and then go on contradicting themselves by showing how big ticket items like STATE SUBSIDIZED health insurance are helping to cause the budget crisis.
So, which is it, lean-spending or state spending ? You can’t have both.
Presumably everyone gets education, including the children of illegal immigrants? And how much in taxes do those illegal immigrants pay?
They should send the bill to Mexico, cut off illegals from anything except emergency lifesaving medical help and ship the illegals back to Mexico as soon as they are "stable"!
1/2 the Democratic base would be affected, no way.
More than that, My FRiend.....more than that....
Free Bus tickets to California or New York would help. I think it is a great idea for florida. Cancel Medicaid and food stamps. Problem solved.
Give them a California EBT card and tell them they can get smokes, lotto and a forty with it. Not to mention good for all Super Mercados in between Texas and Kallie....
This is the best plan ever. They will deport themselves to the communist states. Just think a whole state of people who work for a living and do not cause any trouble.
Don’t forget that TX has a balanced budget requirement (amendment to the state constitution), so when they say TX has a “budget deficit”, it means there is a gap between what they would like to spend versus what they CAN spend. The budget must be balanced by law and once they figure out what to cut, it will be balanced and there will be no deficit.
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